Dusty conditions exist in connection with many-business and industrial activities. Dust is generated by electric furnaces, cement kilns, foundries, and coal burning furnaces and is often present in land fills.
There is a need to reduce the amount of dust in the atmosphere for environmental and health reasons. This can be done by converting the dust into pellets. There is also a need to mix dry, fine powders and pasty, sticky sludges to produce a granular product that is "free-flowing". This need also exists in connection with the stabilization of flue gas desulfurization sludges with fly ash and other dry powders. Some additional applications are the granulation of agricultural chemicals, granulation of blended fertilizers, slaking of lime (CaO) to produce hydrated lime (CaOH).sub.2, granulation of fly ash which contains a high proportion of lime (CaO), and blending of several dry ingredients to produce a homogenous mix.